My Vintage Vanity

This weekend, I worked on reorganizing my bedroom and thought I'd show you all one of my favorite spaces: my vanity.

This
vanity table originally belonged to my grandma when she was a girl. She
said it had roses painted on it ages ago. It looks like it also had a
vanity skirt that opened to reveal the drawers and extra shoe space.

I
keep my sewing machine in the green clothes hamper so this space
doubles as a sewing area so I can do thrift store re-fashions, vintage
repairs and whip up some creations of my own. I have a train case nearby
with all of my sewing necessities.

I
wish I could keep lovely mirrored vanity trays and little jars of
creams and powder but since I have two pairs of tiny hands who love to
get into mommy's makeup, everything messy is protected with a drawer
lock and pointy things are in the jewelry boxes. You can still see evidence of a break-in with the smudge of pink on the center makeup drawer from a demolished tube of lipstick.

I
found this vintage pink silk organizer at a thrift store for a quarter
and it's the perfect size for my Bakelite bangle collection.

Two
estate sale frames with quilt batting and pretty fabric hold some of my
vintage brooches, making a beautiful display and freeing up space in
the jewelry boxes.

One
of my favorite things to do when the kids are napping is sit in the
quiet and organize my jewelry boxes. Sometimes I arrange them by color,
material or era. Sometimes the sparkly ones go together and the plastic
ones go together. Sometimes I organize them to make sure that all 3
boxes have a little dash of rhinestones, Bakelite, Lucite and novelty.

When it's just Olivia and I and the earring-eating beast is asleep, we
sit and try them on and I stack my bangles up to her elbows and she does
a "crazy dance" with her elbows flapping so they click and clack.

17 comments

Your dressing area is amazing.......I wanted to do something similar to your 'brooches in a frame', but your idea is better :)I also wish I could fit everything into my dresser.....I think I have too much crap and I haven't sorted them in soooo long! You've inspired me to get sorting and get crafting.....

So cute! I was using my mom's old sewing cabinet with an art deco mirror I found. Unfortunately, I couldn't bring the cabinet with me when I moved across the country so I am on the lookout for something else. Your set-up gives me ideas though...

The fact that you arrange your jewelry boxes takes me back to when I was a kid because that was my most favorite thing to do at my grandma's. She would let me go to her bedroom and get out her jewelry box and lay everything out on the bed. I would them organize it and put it back the box. Two of my most cherished possessions are their wedding bands and a pink leaf necklace with hot pink rhinestone that has a set of matching earrings. I think they are from the 40ies or 50ies and I used to think they were so glamorous. Thanks for bringing that memory back. ;0

*Swoon* what a stellar jewelry collection you have! I love the diversity of pieces and rainbow of hues represented here (I too like a wide array of colours, styles, decades, etc in my jewelry). Having a vanity table (with mirror) has been a lifelong dream of mine, too, but alas so far we've never had a bedroom with enough room to accommodate it (or space elsewhere in the house where it would make sense for a vanity to be). One day, I just know, it will happen, and when it does, I will definitely take an inspiration cue from you, dear Brittany, and blog about my vanity.

I have coveted a vanity forever...love yours! but....the best of the pic is that blue jewelry box...my mom's was just like that...i always thought it was amazing when my parents were going out and she would open that special box to choose the right piece to wear!! awesome memories you brought back :)

How lovely! I have always thought that vanities were one of the more beautiful parts of old homes in pictures, and I really wish they would come into vogue again. I love your frames full of pins... I'll have copy your idea once I move, mine are all piled up in a drawer right now.

Oh! Is it the exact same? How neat! That brooch was given to me from my great grandma's collection after she passed away and I have a second in different floral pattern from my other great grandma. The only info that I have found about them so far is that they are called "Italian micro mosaic" here's a very good article on the history of micromosaic although it makes no mention of the age of these brooches: http://www.collectorsweekly.com/fine-jewelry/micro-mosaic